1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic appliance, and especially relates to an image forming apparatus which is configured so that an angle of a display is variable with respect to a housing of the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic appliance including an image forming apparatus having a display such as a liquid crystal display capable of varying an angle thereof with respect to a housing (hereinafter referred to as a variable display) has been conventionally used. In such electronic appliance, to improve visibility of the variable display for the user, the angle of the variable display with respect to the housing can be varied by rotatably bearing a display unit, which is held with a resin molded outer frame, on the housing. In the electronic appliance, in the case where a control unit for controlling display of an image on the variable display is accommodated in the housing, the control unit is connected to the variable display, for example, with a flexible circuit board. The flexible circuit board is provide to be extended outward from a gap formed in the vicinity of a region where the outer frame is borne on the housing to the outside of the outer frame, and is connected to the control unit in the housing.
In such electronic appliance, since the display unit is rotatable with respect to the housing, a gap may be formed between the outer frame which holds the variable display and the housing. In the conventional electronic appliance, in a case where a distance between the housing or the outside of the outer frame and the flexible circuit board is short, that is, a creeping distance between the outside of the outer frame and the flexible circuit board is short, when the display unit is rotated, static electricity may be discharged from the user's fingertip to the flexible circuit board. When the static electricity is discharged to the flexible circuit board, the static electricity may flow to the variable display and the control unit through the flexible circuit board, thereby possibly damaging these elements. This contributes to failure of the electronic appliance. For preventing such damaging due to the static electricity, the flexible circuit board is conventionally coated with an insulative material or a conductive plate connected to the earth is provided in the vicinity of the flexible circuit board, so that the static electricity may not be discharged to the flexible circuit board. However, such a prevention measure disadvantageously causes an increase in manufacturing costs of the electronic appliance.
In an electronic appliance capable of preventing failure due to static electricity as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-84261, a conductive member connected to the earth is provided below a liquid crystal display to prevent influence of static electricity on the liquid crystal display. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9-197975 discloses an electronic appliance in which a liquid crystal display is protected against static electricity by disposing a bent piece as a part of a housing between a terminal of the liquid crystal display and a front plate located on the front surface of the metal housing. However, these patent documents disclose any effective solution to prevent discharge of static electricity to the flexible circuit board as described above.